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'Playboy' Farms Out Ad Sales to AMI

The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:18 PM

Under a new deal, Playboy will turn over all the magazine's operations except the editorial ones to American Media Inc. AMI publishes more than a dozen titles, including Star and Men's Fitness. The five-year partnership will help return Playboy to profitability by the end of 2011, says CEO Scott Flanders.

Flanders says that freeing up cash for celebrity pictorials is a chief aim of the deal. Actress Tara Reid will pose nude for the first time in the combined January/February issue. Flanders says he is open to outsourcing arrangements for other parts of the company as well.

The agreement comes as Playboy entertains overtures to acquire the company. Executives confirm that the company and Hugh Hefner, its founder and editor-in-chief, have investment banks exploring sale possibilities.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »

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